Indiana Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis™

I’m being generous as I have massive nostalgia for this game as I played it in childhood. First half is good and defendable, the latter stages have major issues (all the worst aspects of games of this genre and era). Pros: -Mostly logical/practical use of items. -Puzzle solutions are well telegraphed for the first half of the game without just giving it away. -There is a section in the middle of the game that has a branching path, so you have a choice of three scenarios and therefore slightly different situations and dialogue until the paths converge. -A couple of puzzles have different possible solutions in the early game (okay it’s not much, but that’s more than most games of the era offered). -Story is fitting for the Indiana Jones brand and could have made a good movie (although I agree that the characters were quite 2D, but I just accepted ‘hero’, ‘love interest’, ‘evil nazi guy villain’ as the people you get in an Indiana Jones story). Cons: -Puzzles in the last half of the game involve lots of backtracking (using a consumable item which requires a lot of messing around to replenish if you misuse them trying to solve puzzles). -Several puzzles were purely trial and error (choosing random doors. Exchanging an inventory item for another random item at a shop and trying to give it to someone until you guess the one they want. Flying an almost uncontrollable craft and landing at random locations until you get lucky). -Two puzzles in this game are unforgivably vague and could have easily been hinted at (what type of bait to use for a creature/the fact you have to use bait/getting the bait involves doing something absurd and counter logical). -The voice acting is horrendous (played the non-voice version as a kid and it’s been a shock to hear the audio, the ‘evil scientist’ sounds like someone is choking a clown with helium – really ruined the ‘dramatic’ conclusion and made it feel like a muppets parody).

I feel I have to put some balance against the overwhelmingly positive reviews this game has received. Many of them seem to be based on playing the original game when youngsters, so understandably there is an element of rose-tinted spectacles about them. This game is well put together, and the dialogue choices and situations are entertaining enough. I have to say I gave up on the game after the outer circle of Atlantis (maybe 90% of the way through), for the following reasons: 1) Some of the puzzles are illogical, for which there is no excuse. Towards the end I found myself playing the game in parallel with having the UHS hint system open in order to make reasonable progress. 2) Items that are no longer required or useful are left in the inventory. This would not be a problem if there were logical actions to take (see 1), but they just serve to confuse. 3) Visual cues are very poor. When you're trying to steer the sub into the entrance to Atlantis (which is quite tricky using the sub. controls, but perfectly do-able), there is no indication at all where the actual entrance is, so you could be wasting hours trying to drive the thing into the wrong place. 4) There are at least 2 situations where, when you leave a scene, Indy automatically picks up the sun/moon/world stones which are required later in the game. This gives you a very strong cue that you will not be allowed to leave them behind if you need them (a positive aspect of the game design). However, after you get off the submarine and use them to open the door, you have to manually pick them up. I didn't, and ended up at the Canal in Atlantis without the stones, and I needed them to progress. This is just very poor game design. It wouldn't have been so bad if you knew you had to pick them up every time, rather than them previously being picked up for you. By this point I was done with the game. So this is definitely worth a whirl, but don't be misled by the overly-glowing reviews.

I loved the 1st half of the game, cities, fun dialoge moments, but it started to get tedious and lonely at the labrynth. I agree with another user that the world stone puzzles are repetitive. This game still has fun enjoyable parts, but I would recommend Monkey Island or The Dig before this one.

Why should you play this? Because this is the most unique adventure Lucasarts ever made - from a gameplay standpoint. Most puzzles have multiple solutions, the game can be beat with entirely different approaches. You messed up a task? Try a different method, it might work just as well. You can't screw yourself, there are multiple ways to succeed. This makes the game feel VERY organic, and gives it a level of urgency and realism. It also has great voicework, some beautiful art, and good music. Now, what are the issues with it? The steam slowly but surely runs out around the halfway pont. Spoilers: you'll eventually find Atlantis, and while it looks great and has amazing atmosphere, it's a pretty infuriating place. Exploration is great but constant backtracking is not. Imagine this: you come across a gateway to the inner city. Where are your keys? You mean you didn't pick them up at the enterance? Well Indy did pick them up automatically each time before, but not his time. Go through the labyrinth and fetch it, then come back again! Done? Good, now operate this robot! What, you're missing a part? Go through the labyrinth rooms again and look for that little blob on one bg that meant to be a cog. Got it? now come back and try agin. Still doesn't work? Oh, you have to dismantle a robot you've put together eariler, you'll need one of it's parts. So go through the place and come back again. Got it? Great, now it works, you can go in! Let's operate this other thing! What, you've run out of orichalcum beads while experimenting the earlier machine? Too bad, now go back trhough the labyrinth and the sewers, harvest some lava, go back to the bead making machine and come back. But don't forget to dismantle the robot again, you'll need the parts! All done? Brilliant! Have a MAZE! It's not hard, just a waste of time... Jeesh. Also, though it is an actual movie licence this is one of Lucasart's least cinematic games. In short, starts our brilliant, turns into a chore. Too bad.

When it came out, it was regarded as the best adventure game ever made. 20 years later, it still is.